GOAL

Over 30,000 households in Greenville County are one paycheck away from homelessness because they pay over a third of their income on housing. As Greenville has grown and become one of the most desirable places to live in the country, the cost of housing has grown even faster.

This crisis affects everyone, but those on the margins are hit the hardest. There is a shortage of over 11,000 homes for low-income families, and Greenville now has the 9th highest eviction rate in the country. Housing is a fundamental right and building block for a successful life–when it is out of reach for so many the whole community suffers.

To address this crisis, GOAL is calling on city and county leaders to take aggressive, sustained action. At our recent Nehemiah Action, the mayor and other city leaders made public commitments to work on identifying dedicated revenue streams up to $10 million annually. The mayor is confident in his ability to make the $8 million effective by the 2025 – 2026 budget and will continue working until reach our $10 million goal. While these are promising steps in the right direction, our work will not be done until the city and county have put forth the resources needed to solve this problem.

Our community is in a mental health crisis. All across Greenville County, people of every age, income and background struggle to find access to consistent mental healthcare. With wait times for services often exceeding six months, many people only receive care once they are already in crisis.

While there is a long way to go until all have access to the mental healthcare they need, one vital lifeline is the newly launched 988 crisis line. This lifeline provides a crucial alternative to calling 911, and can connect people to vital resources in the community. However, the State of South Carolina is not adequately funding it.

The only 988 call center in the state is right here in Greenville, and is operated by Mental Health America of Greenville County. Right now, nearly 130 people a day contact 988 and only 50 get an in-state response because of the lack of adequate staffing. To fully staff the call center would require $3.9 million in the 2023-24 SC Budget, one tenth of one percent of the projected surplus. GOAL is calling on our state representatives to ensure that everyone who reaches a point of crisis has someone on the other end to answer.

Sen. Karl B. Allen, (SC District 7) and Rep. Chandra E. Dillard (SC District 23), attended our recent Community Problems Assembly. Both Sen. Allen and Rep. Dillard, said YES and gave their commitment to vote in support of fully funding our statewide 988 Crisis Line in the amount of $3.9 million annually. They also both gave their commitments to vote for the funding to be a recurring line item in the state’s annual budget.